iRobot - i3

I have a roomba- and heavy shedding dogs. I still have to vacuum weekly but it keeps us from being knee deep in hair. Get robot vacuum that empties into its own base. Some days it just has to empty its self over and over and over (coat blowing season). You don’t want a vacuum you have to empty as it would defeat the purpose of it being a robot. I buy bootleg replacement parts: filters, brushes, vacuum bag for base off of amazon. (I’m in US) I have not had any trouble

i3- it’s an old one.

I agree, it’s a shitty vacuum. I’ve spent $500+ on a Roomba i3 and I would do it again just for the dog hair. It’s a dog hair sweeper and it does a damn good job at that.

I have a i3 for 4 years now paired with an m6. I do want to upgrade though but honestly I just put an XL battery from Amazon in it and now the i3 vacuums the whole house without recharging (1,400sqft). I have one pet so this is doable for the moment. Twice a month I’ll use my cordless vacuum and it picks up a bit so the i3 does a great job for my situation Try returning your 105. Keel the i5. Save some money and just buy a bigger battery and see if that works still.

I bought 2 Mova P10 Ultras and they’ve been great, especially for the price! Paid around $500 each, looks liek its at $600 now on Amazon. I have 2 dogs that never stop shedding and this has been a life saver. Such an improvement over my old Roomba i3. Mopping works pretty well too. Havent had any issues with obstacles. My roomba used to always get tangled up in my dining table/chair legs. Not an issue any more! It does snag a cord once in a while but its so rare that i dont mind.

Same here the i3 is awesome. I bought a parts kit on amazon for super cheap and it has really come in handy. I replaced the roller, even though it didn't need it after 3-4 years of use. The brush up front I've had to replace twice.

Roomba i3 for around 5 years and still better than my new shark robot. The tank is small but it picks up better. But it also vacuums like a blindman in a ball room.

I live with somebody who use a dyson v6 daily, but it finally failed after years of use. My last robot vaccums cleaner was a Roomba i3, and I was wondering about recent robot vaccums cleaners and I am a bit surprised on how prices went up. I have three kids at home (2, 5, 7 yo), who sometimes spill stuff on the floor (toys/food, etc.), who loves and our rooms are 70% hard floor, 30% carpets (110 sqm). I also would love to understand how robot performs with cables. So obstable avoidance needs to be premium. Mopping is a nice feature which could help ensure our floor is cleaned. I noticed those two guides which are very ressourceful but are sending me to a bit of a rabbit hole watching reviews: [https://redditrecs.com/robot-vacuum/](https://redditrecs.com/robot-vacuum/) [https://vacuumwars.com/vacuum-wars-best-robot-vacuums/](https://vacuumwars.com/vacuum-wars-best-robot-vacuums/) I see that the Roborock Q10 S5+ comes up at a decent price (299 GBP) but is not mentionned on reddit much. What are your top recommendation? Where is the point of diminushing returns?

I have the Roborock Qrevo Plus, and it has been amazing! I have light colored floors and a black Dane and black Cocker. The robot runs every night and every morning we have clean floors. I have a 8 month old baby who is crawling so am also on the floor a lot and I’m always amazed by how spotless they are! Mapping was quick and painless, and I hardly ever have to intervene or rescue it. I also have a iRobot i3 and it’s a night and day difference. App is easy to use, and we have had it for just about a year and have had no problems. Refill clean water and dump dirty mop water once a week. Obstacle avoidance seems to work pretty well too, no incidents yet!

We have the i3 without the tower. It works ok. It helps, it still doesn’t get everything but it makes the floors look ok for a minute.

Our irobot roomba gobbles pet hair and it's a basic i3 model. You have a roborock budget though and reddit is going to steer you towards that or just tell you to get a Miele vacuum.

I have an irobot i3 and it runs every day without issues. The replacement rollers and filters are available cheap on Amazon. It collects plenty of debris and cat hair, mix of carpets and hard floors.

I have a really cheap I3 iRobot, and a medium priced Eureka S20, and I can say don't buy the I3 unless you live in an empty room. The Eureka is actually pretty decent, and doing a good job of keeping my house dog hair free (I have 4 longer haired dogs), but the mopping isn't doing a great job of even keeping things relatively clean. Not sure what changed though as it WAS mopping really well for the first few days we had it.

I bought a roomba i3 in 2020, and it's still working fine Every part is easily replaced, and there is lifetime support that I use once to replace the battery Although that was before it was bought by Amazon, I don't know if it's still the same

Oh! I didn't know It's still robust and serviceable, but yeah, parts might be hard to find soon

I was surprised there is no mention of Roomba here. We have had the i3 for a few years and have been happy with it, but we have all wood floors. It's done well and we have a Corgi that sheds all the time. The only complaint I have is that the sensors can get dirty which causes it to misbehave once in a while so you have to be sure to clean them.

Just got mine for 85$ a couple weeks ago. It was pretty beatup. But I cleaned it up, replaced rollers, filters, and tires. Also took apart the base and cleaned it up. The thing is a beast. I had a i3 for a while so maybe that why it feels like such an upgrade. U could tell they definitely went all out on it

Avoid that, it's a generic (ODM) model based on the same platform as the Xiaomi E10/12, which if I remember correctly is from 3irobotix or SilverStar. Look up some reviews of those Xiaomi models on Amazon and you'll understand how much of a poor product it is. Get a "real" Roomba, they're much better than that. Some examples are the i3/i5, or if you need the mop, the Combo i5 or Combo j5. If you can spend a bit more, the j7 is another good one.

I really appreciate someone bringing this up! As a design geek, I always struggle when I have to make purchase decisions because not always I find something that I consider "well designed". The robot vacuums category is one of these... However, here some robot vacuums that have a design worth talking about (of course, things need to be contextualised for their time). In completely random order: - **Roomba s9**: a sleek and professional finish, the first (and only) D-shaped Roomba, taking advantage of its shape and bringing to market the best edge cleaning ever (before robot vacuums with extensible side brush were a thing) together with one of the best vacuuming performances ever. - **Roomba i3**: the first one of the newly engineered Roomba mid-range series, bringing to "budget" conscious consumers a new methodical navigation method, together with a modern aesthetics which drops the carrying handle for a new fabric-textured top finish and with modern, clean lines. - **Philips (Versuni) HomeRun 7000**: not a particularly noteworthy product, however a robot vacuum distancing itself from the competition thanks to the typical Philips design, with dual-finish robot and fabric emptying base. Not the best result, but at least an attempt to bring an externally developed product (ODM'd by 3irobotix) in line with the company design style (uses for instance with air purifiers etc). - **Roomba j7/j9+**: distancing itself from its predecessor (Roomba i7, with a good looking "techy" design), it brings a much cleaner design, more minimal, and enriched by a metallic disc on top together with a UI based on the RGB light around the only button (not the most intuitive one, but an attempt to do something different). It also features a newly redesigned self-emptying station, now developed in a much more compact and modern-looking form factor, thing that will be later copied by most other manufacturers. - **Neato Botvac lineup**: overall, Neato products have always been lacking in terms of design (an exception being the Kobold VR300, which changes the design aligning it to the family feeling of contemporary Vorwerk products), however these specific units brought more thoughtful, cleaner lines (to an extent...) together with the LiDAR tower cap in some bold, unique colours. This aesthetic didn't survive long and wasn't - overall - in line with the brand identity of Neato. Still, a good attempt. RIP. - **Dyson 360° VisNav**: not too much to say - it looks good. Perfectly matches a useful D-shaped layout with the Dyson family feeling. Balanced despite the lack of simplicity, modern in a retro-futuristic way, and functional. - **Karcher RC3000**: one of the first robot vacuums with self-emptying station (the first one?), with a bold design perfectly in line with the company identity. - **Dreame W10 Pro**: overall, similar to all other Dreame products, but in the (now abandoned) D-shaped style. Adds a gold accent to differentiate it from the "non-Pro" version which lacks the front sensor array (ToF 3D cam + RGB cam). Clean lines, clean colours, very minimal and stylish overall. - **SmartMi VortexWave**: innovative design for this unique robot vacuum and mop: D-shaped style allowing a large front brush that can be exchanged to leave its place to a roller-style mop. The first robot vacuum supporting both dry and wet vacuuming. Clean lines and a good mix of minimal and techy design. - **Electrolux Pure i9.2 (also AEG RX9.2)**: one one-of-a-kind. The genuine successor of the original Electrolux Trilobite. Developed in-house by Electrolux, this product was one of the first to implement small obstacles avoidance (2017 for the first gen Pure i9) thanks to its navigation method fully based on dual-line lasers. Overall an excellent product, unfortunately killed by the high price, lacking marketing, and growing Chinese competition (at much cheaper prices). Futuristic design for a robot with futuristic features. - **Matic robot vacuum**: the only one that in recent years has dared to challenge the paradigm of robot vacuums. Narrower but much taller. Boxy design resembling a robotic toy, with large wheels and front, "peninsular" brush assembly. Together with a revolutionary vSLAM navigation system based on nVIDIA Jetson Orin. It has its flaws, but it's the kind of competition we need in the category. - **Narwal (in picture, Freo Z10)**: not really a worthy robot vacuum cleaner/brand overall, but one of the first brands to really bet on rotational mops, together with the distinctive clean and alien-like shape of their docks which has now been copied by many competitors. - **Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum (Roborock)**: the first LiDAR-based robot vacuum to bring LiDAR and methodical navigation to the masses, at a price that made it the the-facto standard of robot vacuum recommendations in 2016/2017. Together with the new technology at low price, it brought to the market a modern and clean design and a futuristic, intuitive app. - **DJI Romo**: too early to speak about this as a robot vacuum cleaner, but from a design perspective it takes the clean, curvy Narwal style and turns it inside-out giving it a transparent cover. Good result, but durability of the good look is still TBD. - **Mach R1** (sorry, I refuse to call this Eufy S1 Pro): birthed by the Anker Innovations incubator "Mach" (later absorbed into Eufy), it finally brings to Anker-owned Eufy a new style that was really needed. Futuristic and clean, not much to say. A very good result resembling the square-ish shape of older LG HomBot, but in a new futuristic, semi-transparent twist. That's all folks 😬 Edit: pictures in the comment below because somehow embedding doesn't work in this comment.

Honestly hardware reliability is the only thing Roomba has going for them. I've owned numerous robot vacuums and every single one has failed after about a year except for this POS Roomba i3 that I literally HATE lol. I've frisbeed that POS across the room so many times and it just keeps running, even the bearing on the end of the roller seized up and melted and I just ignore it and it keeps chugging along not knowing where it is half the time. It's like this thing runs off of pure spite Meanwhile I rolled my $1800 roborock into the base just a little bit too fast and the gears in the wheel motors shattered 🙄😒

I had a Rooma i3 until super recently (downsized and moved, it still works great). It's able to be repaired and cleaned regularly which is key to making sure it lasts a long time. Not sure if this applies to the robot vacuums but Sharks are easy to repair and have five year warranties.

All the i and j7 and below series vacuums have the same motor. Only the s9 and j9 have more suction, the s9 is actually better suction. On hard floors any of them will pick up the hair. The s9 will do very well on the area rugs. Not worth buying the combo models.

The I and J series clean so much better than the 2 Essential. Even the lowest priced I series is well worth the extra money.

The comment about robot vacuums only being for small places is probably based on the old random pattern robots. Most robots now map and do well in large houses. It sounds like most mapping robots would work for you, since you don't want mopping, have hardfloors, and no pets. So anything with lidar (prefered) or vslam navigation. Obstacle avoidance might be a useful feature for cords, shoes, toys etc. left on the ground. It might be worth looking into a Eufy L60, iRobot Roomba j series, Roborock Q series, or shark. I'm biased because I have three robot vacs (Roborock S6, Ecovacs x1 omni, and iRobot Roomba j5+ combo) and my roomba j5+ is the only one that is reliable and working at the moment

iRobot is likely the longest lasting brand, there are many accounts of people having these bots for so many years and well over 1k hours.. iRobot are still providing parts for 12+ year old bots. Where is the planned obsolescence there?

The combo 10 max (almost the same obstacle avoidance as all other modern/j-series iRobot models) initially scored in vacuum war's top ten for obstacle avoidance. It's also the only brand that guarantees avoidance of pet poo. Battery is debatable, but it's also a non-issue for most because of charge and resume

All have pretty poor customer service. I have three bots (Ecovacs, Roborock, and iRobot) and recommend the roomba i or j series for vacuum only (especially if you have carpet). It's designed for longevity rather than features. My j5+ has been reliable and kept up with 2 shedding dogs (long hair border collie cross) and two people

once you get a i/J series with a Clean Base. you will never want to go back. When shedding season start , you can setup a daily clean up. and a weekly maintenance of the robot.

I have a Roomba that I picked up from Costco. It can be controlled via app and it has a self emptying base.

They \*could\* but I doubt very much that they do; it would cost a lot. The biggest privacy risk is revealing a map of the layout of your home if your online account is hacked. I have an iRobot Roomba that empties its own bag into a base. Love it. Love not having to vacuum under beds and sofas. It took some prep to make my home ready for it--furniture needs to be high enough (and legs wide enough apart) for it to run up under. Lamp cords need to be secured. Don't run it automatically or when you're not home. Do clean the hair out of it after it runs (takes only a couple minutes). I run it once a week. I spend 3-4 minutes putting things like litter baskets and chairs up off the floor so it has a better reach, then schedule it to run 3x. Then turn the schedule off again and return loose items to the floor. Spend about a minute getting hair out of its rollers. I've had several good looks inside my Roomba and didn't see anything like microphones or cameras. Its bump sensors are not cameras. It does have an internet connection and so can be voice-controlled if you connect to Alexa or Google Home. But that is optional. If you only operate it with the app or onboard buttons, it cannot be voice controlled.

We’ve used a self emptying Roomba for years. 3 dogs, a Basset, a Lab, and a Terrier. All are moderate shedders and fur accumulation is a problem. All three are indoor/outdoor dogs and mud is a consideration for us. We have area rugs from Costco that help dry paws and pick up some dirt. We launder them at a coin-op each month to save wear and tear on our washer. The Roomba is fine for keeping visible areas tidy, but one pass on the floor and the internal bin will fill with fur and dust. We still vacuum with a stick vac in corners and under furniture, Roomba can’t reach. No mopping robot can keep up with mud from paws if you live in a rainy muddy area. Invest in a good Swiffer wet mop or a light weight bucket based mop.

I started with a eufy and it was pretty good on all hardwood floors. It would pile some fire up in the corners I could pick up. But then I upgraded to a roomba with the self emptying thing and I love it. The app and tutorials are very helpful.

I have the Wyze robot vac and a roomba self emptying vac. I vastly prefer the performance of the wyze vac.

I have a self emptying roomba vacuum. It runs daily at 9:30 am, recharges and empties itself, then finishes rhe rest around 2 in the afternoon. I live on a horse farm with 4 dogs and 5 cats and only if its muddy do shoes come off at the door. That robot is a wonderful thing.

I have an IRobot Roomba self emptying one! It literally just got done vacuuming. Genuinely LIFE CHANGING. I got mine as a Christmas gift and it’s great but I’d probably go with the Shark 2 in 1 self emptying robot mop/vacuum when my Roomba dies. I run mine at least 2 times a day and I think it helps keep it where hairballs don’t build up and get stuck in it.

Two huskies here. We have a self emptying Roomba. We run it 5 days a week. I have to keep up with the replacement parts, or it starts just wadding up hair and leaving it in chunks. But even that cuts manual cleaning time, because I can just take the hand vac to the chunks. We've had it since 2021.